Julia+Patera

In mid-March, 1915, 19-year-old saleslady Hazel Wilcox died at a Chicago home after an abortion perpetrated that day by Julia Patera, whose profession is not given. She was held by the coroner but the case never went to trial.

In mid-March, 1915, 22-year-old homemaker Elenora Cassidy died at her Chicago residence from an abortion perpetrated there that day. Before her death, Elinor named Dr. Julia Patara as the guilty abortionist. Patara was indicted for Elinor's death by a Grand Jury, but the case never went to trial.

On Cook County death records, Patera is listed as a midwife rather than a physician. I have yet been unable to determine if Patera was mis-identified as a doctor in the Homicide in Chicago database, or if, like many female obstetricians of the time, was referred to as a midwife because of her specialty.

Patera was born Julia Svoboda on January 1, 1854 in Starahute, Czechoslovakia. She died at age 74 on August 11, 1928 in Chicago. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Canton Svoboda and the wife of Charles Patera.